Going through law school can be both exhilarating and intimidating. With the vast amount of material to cover and the rigorous demands of the curriculum, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But the right tools and resources can significantly enhance your learning and boost your chances of success. Both within the library stacks and online, we’ve gathered every kind of study aid for any kind of need, including concise explanations of the law, effective outlines, and even exam practice. Below are some essential study aids that can help you navigate the complexities of your classes with confidence.
Online Resources
Online resources offer unparalleled accessibility, making it easy to study at your own pace and on your own time. Fortunately, we have valuable online resources available to you through the West Academic Study Aid resource library, the Aspen Learning Library, and the Lexis Digital Library! You can access these resources by going to the Law Library’s homepage, clicking on the Electronic Resources tab, and finding them alphabetically.
The West Academic Study Aid collection is a comprehensive resource offering popular series like Exam Pro, Flash Cards, Black Letter Outlines, and Gilbert’s Outlines. With over 640 titles covering 1L, 2L/3L courses, academic and career success, you’ll find a study aid for almost any law school subject. Plus, these digital resources feature convenient features like note-taking, highlighting, searching, copying, and printing. Access these study aids from your laptop, tablet, or phone for maximum flexibility.
Similarly, the Aspen Learning Library collection offers over 200 ebooks, audio files, and explanatory videos on all kinds of law school subjects, even offering advice on which study aid to use and when, with features like law school favorites Examples & Explanations, Glannon’s Guides, Emanuel Outlines, and Emanuel CrunchTime. Even better, with the ability to access materials via iOS, Android, and desktop devices, you’ll be able to take your study aids with you wherever you go.
Lastly, the Lexis Digital Library collection contains almost 800 titles available in different forms, including ebooks and audio files. This collection includes tons of popular study aid series, like the Understanding Series, the Mastering Series, Q&As, and Skills and Values series. On top of all that, this collection also features a wide variety of practice guides, treatises, and code books on nearly every subject of law. If you forget your Federal Rules of Civil Procedure at home, you can now pull it up on your laptop, phone, or tablet, and begin your studying anytime, anywhere.
Learning Aids
Focused on providing a deeper grasp of the subject matter, these study aids offer detailed explanations of the law itself.
- Examples and Explanations (Series; Available in Print behind the Circulation Desk and Online via Aspen Learning Library)
E&E provides a plain language explanation of the subject organized into easy-to-understand, standalone chapters. At the end of each chapter, there are questions for the reader to contemplate. Frequently, the questions have a clear answer, but the beauty in this guide is that the explanations of the questions focus on what specific facts, when changed slightly, would change the outcome of the question, thus deepening the reader’s understanding of the legal concepts within.
- Nutshells (Series; Available in Print behind the Circulation Desk and Online via West Academic Study Aids)
Authored by multiple legal scholars, the “In A Nutshell” series is known for a concise and informative approach. These books offer a condensed overview of various legal subjects, providing students with essential information and key concepts in an easily digestible manner.
- Emanuel CrunchTime (Series; Available in Print behind the Circulation Desk and Online via Aspen Learning Library)
Like the Nutshell series, the Emanuel CrunchTime series is known for giving comprehensive summaries of key legal concepts and principles in a condensed format. With explanations and practice questions on a wide variety of legal topics, each book contains a considerable amount of meaningful feedback to help law students boost efficiency and make the most of their study time.
- Understanding (Series; Available in Print behind the Circulation Desk and Online via Lexis Digital Library)
These guides are known for their straightforward approach, helping students review and clarify core topics without getting bogged down in dense legal language or overly technical detail. Providing clear, concise explanations of complex legal concepts, each book in the series covers a specific area of law, such as contracts, torts, constitutional law, or criminal law, and breaks down the fundamental principles, rules, and cases in an easy to understand way.
Outlines
These study aids present outlines that summarize the key points of the class material. Though they’re no substitute for the outlines you make yourself, they’re a great resource to start with.
- Gilbert Law Summaries (Series; Available in Print behind the Circulation Desk and Online via West Academic Study Aids)
Filled with checklists, diagrams, and organized in a concise outline format, Gilbert Law Summaries are particularly useful for students who are looking for a quick and efficient way to review legal concepts, or those who need a reference guide to supplement their own class notes.
- Emanuel Law Outlines (Series; Available in Print behind the Circulation Desk and Online via Aspen Learning Library)
Just like the Emanuel CrunchTime series, Emanuel Law Outlines are focused on giving students a comprehensive but concise overview of the law. Developed by legendary study aid author Steve Emanuel, this series will allow students to more easily organize information, identify key concepts, and understand the relationships between legal concepts with a consistent outline format.
- Black Letter Outlines (Series; Available in Print behind the Circulation Desk and Online via West Academic Study Aids)
This series aims to place the law within the contexts of their broader subjects, comprehensively explaining the scope of the law with in-depth descriptions, detailed examples, and comprehensive summaries. Available in almost 40 subject areas, Black Letter Outlines is a great resource to use as general class review or when prepping for an exam.
Multiple Choice Exam Practice
These study aids prioritize practice, providing multiple-choice questions and, in some cases, detailed explanations.
- Q&A (Available in Print behind the Circulation Desk and Online via Lexis Digital Library)
These books offer concise outlines of each section, providing clear explanations of legal concepts and terms, along with exam tips, tricks, and study tools. Self-assessment questions help you apply your knowledge, and summaries of key cases highlight important facts, issues, and relevant laws. Practice exams with model answers and detailed explanations can help you prepare for tests.”
- Siegel’s (Available in Print behind the Circulation Desk)
Knowing the law is essential for success on law exams, but it’s not enough on its own. Siegel’s guide helps you both understand the law and apply it effectively. It includes multiple-choice questions to test your knowledge of legal principles and essays with model answers for self-assessment. This book is designed for review and doesn’t provide in-depth discussions, focusing solely on questions.
- Glannon Guides (Series; Available in Print behind the Circulation Desk and Online via Aspen Learning Library)
Unlike traditional outlines or textbooks, this series combines concise explanations of legal principles with multiple choice questions and analysis. This interactive format allows students to test their understanding and identify areas where they need further review. Glannon Guides are particularly effective for students who struggle with traditional study methods or who want to improve their exam-taking skills.
General Exam Guides
Designed for short and long answer questions, these study guides provide guidance on the techniques for writing law school exams.
- How to Write Law Exams: IRAC Perfected by S.I. Strong
This book differs from other guides in that it not only goes into a detailed explanation of the IRAC method of writing exams, but it gives sample student responses with detailed critiques of where they excel or fall short. At just about 120 pages dedicated to the writing exams. This guide is a quick read that can help prepare you to take exams.
- Mastering the Law School Exam by Suzanne Darrow-Kleinhaus
This book is designed to provide students with a knowledgeable, reasonable, and rational voice to navigate the intricacies of law school exams. This book is practical rather than theoretical where the emphasis is on providing the type of detailed examples necessary to show students precisely “how to do it” and “how to write it.”
- Getting to Maybe, How to Excel on Law School Exams by Richard Michael Fischl and Jeremy Paul
This book takes a slightly different approach to law exams. The book encourages exam takers to identify what type of question is being asked. While plenty of law school exams are traditional “issue spotters” (and Getting to Maybe covers that as well), other types of questions such as questions that ask the exam taker to determine a policy. It encourages test takers to spend the most time with analysis where the answers are less clear and to embrace the gray of legal issues. The book also includes general advice on how to prepare for exams and where to spend your valuable time.
This list is not exhaustive, please be sure to also check out our Study Aid Research Guide for more study aid options organized by each and every class!
Success in law school is about resilience, dedication, and effective time management. By utilizing these resources, staying organized, and tailoring your study strategies to your unique learning style, you’ll be well on your way to thriving!
